Sometimes a truely great American pops on to the public radar and then fades and we don't hear about them for a long time.

One of those people that we don't want to forget is Shirley Sherrod.

Shirley Sherrod devoted her life to obtaining justice for those forgotten by the civil rights movement, minority rural farmers.

Shirley life was touched early by hatred when at the age of 17 her father was killed by a white farmer in Georgia. An all white grand jury refused to indict her father's murderer and several months later a cross was burned with the widow, four daughters and a new born son, who would never see his father, inside.

She went on to be one of the first students to integrate an all white school and was the first black woman elected to a county office in her county. She went on to finish college while working for SNCC and getting her masters.

She was a pioneer in civil rights action against the USDA discriminatory action against minority farmers and the class action lawsuit she filed was settled for $ 1 billion.

She joined the USDA as the first African American to serve as Director of Rural Development for Georgia.

She always served with grace and courage.

In 2010 she was the victim of a heavilly edited video by an unscrupulous and vile parasite who used the public square to market lies and engage in defamatory assissination of people that were much classier, more intelligent, more courageous and more honorable.

Two weeks ago the Federal District Judge threw out the bombastic blogger's motion to stop Shirley Sherrod's lawsuit to bring the cretin to the halls of justice and the unscrupulous predator of hate's estate will have to defend the lawsuit in Federal Court.

Like Claude Raines in Casablanca the Republican chattering class is "shocked, just shocked" that the radical Tea Party movement is now devouring the most conservative politicians in the Republican Party.

The Tea Party was like crack cocaine for the Republican Party getting all of its endorphins out at one moment and now comes the problem with addiction and lower and lower returns on their hit.

Now as the Republican establishment wakes up from its year long party of heated hate filled rhetoric they now find that they are on the menu and with Romney's inability to bring home a confirming victory tonight we officially enter the period of 'finger pointing'.

The wingers call their Republican opponents RINOs, or Republican In Name Only. But that’s an insult to the rhino, which is a tough, noble beast. If RINOs were like rhinos, they’d stand up to those who seek to destroy them. Actually, what the country needs is some real Rhino Republicans. But the professional Republicans never do that. They’re not rhinos. They’re Opossum Republicans. They tremble for a few seconds then slip into an involuntary coma every time they’re challenged aggressively from the right.

Without real opposition, the wingers go from strength to strength. Under their influence, we’ve had a primary campaign that isn’t really an argument about issues. It’s a series of heresy trials in which each of the candidates accuse the others of tribal impurity. Two kinds of candidates emerge from this process: first, those who are forceful but outside the mainstream; second, those who started out mainstream but look weak and unprincipled because they have spent so much time genuflecting before those who despise them.

. . .

Leaders of a party are supposed to educate the party, to police against its worst indulgences, to guard against insular information loops. They’re supposed to define a creed and establish boundaries. Republican leaders haven’t done that. Now the old pious cliché applies:

First they went after the Rockefeller Republicans, but I was not a Rockefeller Republican. Then they went after the compassionate conservatives, but I was not a compassionate conservative. Then they went after the mainstream conservatives, and there was no one left to speak for me.

Though a Public Policy Polling survey released late last night showed Mitt Romney regaining the lead over Rick Santorum in the Michigan GOP primary, 39% to 37%, a new Mitchell Research/Rosetta Stone poll shows Santorum taking over the lead back from Romney, 37% to 35%.

A new We Ask America poll shows Romney ahead 37% to 33%.

A new American Research Group survey shows Santorum just ahead, 36% to 35%.

Mitt Romney's taken a small lead over Rick Santorum in PPP's newest Michigan poll. He's at 39% to 37% for Santorum, 13% for Ron Paul, and 9% for Newt Gingrich. Compared to a week ago Romney's gained 6 points, while Santorum's just stayed in place.

Romney will go into election day with a large lead in the bank. Only 16% of Michigan voters say they've already cast their ballots, but Romney has a whooping 62-29 advantage over Santorum with that group. Santorum actually leads Romney 39-34 with those who are planning to cast their votes on Tuesday, but he'd need to win election day voters by even more than that to neutralize the advantage Romney's built up.

The last week of the campaign in Michigan has seen significant damage to Santorum's image with GOP voters in the state. His net favorability has declined 29 points from +44 (67/23) to now only +15 (54/39). Negative attacks on Romney meanwhile have had no negative effect with his favorability steady at +20 (57/37). Two weeks ago Santorum's net favorability in Michigan was 34 points better than Romney's. Now Romney's is 5 points better than Santorum's. Those kinds of wild swings are the story of the GOP race

The cross tabs show that only 7% of liberals indicated that they are voting. If just a couple percent more vote for Santorum, or if there were just a couple answering in a deceptive way then Santorum would be ahead.

Mitt Romney went to the races today, and instead of putting his pedal to the metal, seems to have put his foot in his mouth.

Asked by a reporter from the Associated Press about whether or not he follows NASCAR, Romney reportedly responded "Not as closely as some of the most ardent fans," he said, continuing, "But I have some friends who are NASCAR team owners."

After finally handing Santorum a spanking at the debate they decide not to let Romney blow it by having him go to another debate.

But rather than make this controversial decision himself, and have to answer questions about it, Romney lets his wife announce it. I guess if we want to get other answers about the campaign and his policies we should just skip talking to Mitt and talk to Ann.

Should he become President I would guess that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs would be somewhat surprised to try and call Mitt at 3 AM only to find that Ann has said "no more 3 am calls".

In the compelling personal narrative that has helped propel Florida Senator Marco Rubio to national political stardom, one chapter has gone completely untold: Rubio spent his childhood as a faithful Mormon.

Rubio was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with his family at around the age of eight, and remained active in the faith for a number of years during his early youth, family members told BuzzFeed.

Rubio spokesman Alex Conant confirmed the story to BuzzFeed, and said Rubio returned to the Catholic church a few years later with his family, receiving his first communion on Christmas day in 1984 at the age of 13.

The revelation adds a new dimension to Rubio's already-nuanced religious history—and could complicate his political future at a time when many Republicans see him as the odds-on favorite for the 2012 vice presidential nod. Vice presidential candidates are traditionally chosen to provide ethnic and religious balance to a ticket. Mitt Romney's Mormonism and Rubio's Catholic faith would already mean the first two members of minority traditions on a Republican ticket in American history. Rubio's Mormon roots could further complicate that calculation.

Rubio wasn't just a kid that tagged along with the family, he was really into it according to family members:

The story of Rubio's conversion to Mormonism, his enthusiastic immersion in LDS adolescent life, and his eventual departure from the church was recently related to BuzzFeed by two of the Senator's first cousins, Mo Denis, a Democratic State Senator in Nevada, and his sister Michelle—both of whom were close to his family at the time

'Apostate Mormons' is the term used by Mormons to describe people who leave the Mormon Church, also termed EXMOs

Young also said that " there is a despicable character on the face of the earth, it is an apostate from this Church. He is a traitor who has deceived his best friends, betrayed his trust, and forfeited every principle of honor that God placed within him. They may think they are respected, but they are not. They are disgraced in their own eyes. There is not much honesty within them; they have forfeited their heaven, sold their birthright, and betrayed their friends."

MESA, Ariz. — Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is explaining what he meant when he described himself as “severely conservative” at a conservative political meeting earlier this month.

Romney was asked about using those words when he and his GOP rivals debated Wednesday night in Mesa, Ariz. The state holds its primary Tuesday, as does Michigan.

Romney says “severely” means strict. He says he successfully pushed through several conservative policies as the governor of Massachusetts, a heavily Democratic state.

So it wasn't an understandable mis-speak from somebody that was on the stump all day, it reflects the twisted thinking of a very strange guy.

For Romney, strict = severe and severe = strict.

So I am sure that Romney sees himself as a strict father and pet owner and that would require severe methods of discipline.

Seamus was in need of some behavioral modification so the strict pet owner used some "strict" or severe methods.

Just lucky for the boys who were complaining about needing to go to the bathroom (the other weird part of the story is that the boys were told that there would be only one bathroom stop during the 12 hours) that the top of the roof was occupied or they may have met with some "strict" parenting.